Mathematical and Computational Issues in Advanced Plasma Microthrusters
Abstract
This mathematical and computational work investigated new issues that arise in the simulation of gas and plasma flows in microthrusters, plume flows and flows in associated devices. This research aimed overall at a unified mathematical formulation and numerical discretization of multi-species, partially ionized plasma micro-flows in nonequilibrium. The result is a seamless Particle In-Cell/Monte Carlo methodology developed on unstructured grids for flexibility and includes an adaptation feature. The methodology implemented elastic neutral-neutral, elastic ion-neutral and charge exchange ion-neutral collisions as well as a model for energy redistribution for rotational and vibrational degrees of freedom. The Poisson's equation solver is based on a finite-volume formulation that utilizes the Voronoi-Delaunay dual mesh. High-order particle/force weighting was implemented and the numerical heating was evaluated in unstructured simulations of a collisionless fully ionized plasma. The developed capability was applied to the simulation of gaseous microthruster and plume flows, the micro field emission array used with electric micropropulsion devices, the simulation of the plasma flow in a micro retarding potential analyzer, and to the simulation of ion beam neutralization phenomena.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Sep 04, 2003
- Accession Number
- ADA417710
Entities
People
- Nikolaos A. Gatsonis
Organizations
- Worcester Polytechnic Institute